


pick up lines on coffee cups

by neogotmyheart



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Barista Yuk Hei, F/M, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 04:57:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15235839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neogotmyheart/pseuds/neogotmyheart
Summary: It’s Yukhei’s first day on the job as a barista. He can’t remember a particular pretty girl’s order and she just wants her coffee. However, she can’t say that she minds getting the chance to talk to the boy every time he has to come ask what it was she wanted. Once Chloe starts making the coffee shop a frequent morning stop before class, Yukhei remembers her order and even becomes daring enough to start leaving pick up lines on the back of the cup.Chloe doesn’t know if she’s developed a caffeine addiction or a particular fondness to the boy behind the counter.





	pick up lines on coffee cups

The little bells on the door rang as Chloe and her roommate, Renjun, entered the new coffee shop by their apartment. They had previously always settled for cheap coffee made at home, but today Renjun suggested they splurge and visit the new place that had opened up. They left with about an hour to spare before class started for fear the shop would be busy. Instead, the pair found that the shop was relatively empty.

“Wow so glad you convinced me to come an hour early. The place really looks like it could be at max capacity…” Renjun looked around and let out a low whistle.

“I only suggested it to be safe. You’re the one that wanted to come. I was perfectly fine with sleeping in and drinking the coffee we make at home.” Chloe wasn’t the biggest fan of mornings and found she had a hard time waking up in the morning. The only reason she had a 9am was because it was the only time this class was being offered. Now, she stood in the middle of a coffee shop at 8am, when really she just wanted to go back to sleep.

“The coffee you make at home always tastes burnt.” Renjun replied before stepping up the counter.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “How do you burn coffee? You’re just picky.” She looked up to tease him but instead her eyes met the barista’s behind the counter. He was easily one of the most attractive people she had ever seen. She thinks her heart may have melted when he smiled her.

“Sorry, she’s mute. She’ll have a-” Renjun began

“I’m not mute. I’ll just take a latte. Thanks..” Chloe felt her cheeks turn red from Renjun suddenly putting her on the spot. She smiled and nodded at the boy behind the counter.

After they had paid, they set out to find a table.

“You’re so embarrassing. I can’t take you anywhere.” She hissed at the boy next to her.

“Your infatuation with the barista was wasting my time.” Renjun teased as they sat down.

“I wasn’t infatuated. He was just really tall. And cute. And it caught me off guard, alright?” Chloe laid her head on the table. 

“Sorry to interrupt I just… what did you order?” Chloe picked her head up off the table to find the cute boy standing in front of her. 

“Me? Um, a latte?” She was a little confused. They were the only ones who’s order he had taken in what seemed like a quite a bit of time.

“Right, duh, thanks.” He smiled again and turned and walked away. She was definitely staring. She knew she was, but it was kind of hard not to. He was tall and his shoulders were broad. His dark hair was a little bit long but it worked. The light was hitting his face in just the right way. His eyes shone even from across the shop.

Renjun shook his head. “We’re like… the only ones in the store and he forgot that you ordered a latte of all things. I guess God doesn’t give with both hands.”

“You’re a monster when you wake up early. You can drink the coffee at home for all I care. He’s probably just nervous.” Chloe spoke quietly.

“Maybe he thinks you’re pretty and wanted an excuse to come talk to you. If that’s the case, I’ll give him a little bit of a break.” He laughed as her cheeks turned shades once again.

“Shut up! He’s coming back. I swear if you embarrass me again, I’m moving out.” She threatened. She knew that shooting him a glare wouldn’t do much. Renjun hardly ever took Chloe seriously.

The guy handed Renjun his coffee and then turned to Chloe again. “I know you ordered a latte. I didn’t forget again. I just wanted to let you know that I’m… um… I’m having a little bit of trouble with the machine. But!” He put his hands up as if to prevent her from interrupting. “I’m working on it. I’m determined to get this figured out.”

“Are you the only one here?” If he needed help, surely he could ask anyone else who was on the shift.

“No. There’s one other person. I just hate asking for help when they’ve already shown me how to do all of this.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just didn’t want you to think I forgot again or something. I’ll be back in a second, hopefully.” He turned and walked away from their table for the second time before Chloe stopped him.

“Actually, can I just get an iced coffee? It’s what I always get. I’m not really sure why I thought to order a latte.”

“That I know how to make.” He smiled and went to go make the iced coffee. 

Chloe still didn’t have her coffee. For some reason she didn’t mind. 

“This is why you should just stick to what you always get. This was the world telling you not to try and change things up.” Renjun pointed a stirring straw at her before taking a sip of his Americano. “Sure is a good thing we came an hour early.”

“He’s doing his best, Junie please. It’s only been 15 minutes anyway. Can’t you do some homework instead of continually complaining?” She groaned.

“I did it all. Unlike you, I take care of the stuff as soon as possible. Hey, if you get your coffee soon, we can go sit under our tree. We haven’t been in forever.”

“Because those people started always getting there before us and they stole it so we moved to where Jeno and Jaemin hang out.” She said, gathering little cups of half and half and packets of splenda, making a small pile.

“Yeah but I hate the couch in the commons. It’s so loud, no matter what time it is. I don’t know how the two of them do it every single morning.” He swirled his cup

“I know. I hate it too. I can’t focus. It’s already hard for me to get work done and then you add a bunch of people talking and I just want to _listen_.” She pushed everything she needed for her coffee together. “Maybe we can start hanging out here?”

“You’re only saying that because you think that boy is cute, even though he can’t even make a latte.” Renjun teased. He looked like he was about to say something else before he realized the boy was back.

“Here’s your coffee. I.. um left room for creamer because I saw your pile. Have a good one.” He walked away quickly, but Chloe saw that his ears were red meaning he probably heard Renjun’s comment.

“So he definitely isn’t dumb and he definitely thinks you’re pretty. How else would he have noticed your stack of an unhealthy mess unless he was watching you.” Renjun pointed out. 

Chloe mixed her creamer and sugar in and noticed there was writing on the cup. 

“Thanks for being patient with me.” It was sweet. She found herself smiling.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Nothing, let’s just go to our tree that you’re so eager to sit under.” Chloe teased and got up, throwing her trash away. 

When they got to campus, they still had about 40 minutes before class started. The coffee shop was conveniently close to campus and the coffee actually was good. The cute boy was just a small perk. They approached their tree to find Jaemin and Jeno already sitting under it. Jaemin was laying with his head on Jeno’s thigh and was pointing at something above him before Jeno spotted them and waved.

“Hey Jun, when you text me ‘sit under our tree! now!’, know that I need more information than that. There’s trees everywhere. This was just the first big tree that Jaems saw.” Jeno then greeted Chloe more traditionally with a simple hello.

“I like this tree though. It has nice grass. I could take a nap here.” Jaemin said. “That’s really why I chose this one. I didn’t know if it was _your_ tree, but it was going to be _mine._ And good morning Chloe. You look pretty today.”

“Even though Jaemin’s methods were unorthodox, this is actually the tree I wanted you to find. And Chloe thought the barista was cute but didn’t flirt with him. It was pitiful truly.” Renjun groaned.

“Look’s to me like he thought she was pretty cute too. Her cup says ‘Thanks for being patient with me’ with a cute little smiley face.” Jaemin pointed.

“So that’s why you started smiling. I can’t believe you weren’t going to say anything.” Renjun shook his head and laid down, resting his head on his backpack.

Jeno let out a slow whistle. “Are you gonna go back?”

“I don’t know, probably. The coffee is good.” She said, setting her stuff down to sit with the three boys.

“He left room for her creamer because he saw her mountain of splenda and half and half on the table.”

“Yes, I’m sure it’s just the coffee.” Jeno nodded. “Very convincing. Every time Renjun tells us more, I am further convinced it’s _purely_ for the coffee.”

“Why am I friends with you three.” Chloe sighed.

“Because we’re nice to you.” Jaemin said.

“No, Jaemin, you’re the only one that’s nice to me.”

Jaemin scrunched his face. “Oh. Then why are you friends with those two?” Jaemin let a small smirk appear when he saw Renjun lunge, only to be stopped by Jeno.

“You should start going a couple times a week and see if he says anything. He was bold enough to write on your cup, maybe he’ll do it again.” Jaemin yawned. “Jeno, I need you to stop dragging me to school early just because you don’t want to walk alone.”

“I never even wake you up? You’re usually the one waking me up saying it’s time to go.”

“Am I?” He closed his eyes and shifted a bit before looking like he was ready to take a nap. Jeno rolled his eyes but he didn’t seem too bothered by waking up early or he would probably be trying to sleep too.

“Jaemin is probably right. Maybe, he’ll be more forward next time if you go again.” Jeno leaned back and propped himself on his elbows. “What’s there to lose. It’s not like it’s your favorite coffee shop. If you embarrass yourself, you can just stop going. Go in a couple of days.”

So that was exactly what she did.

~~~

She went in the next day and was greeted by the boy from the other day. His smile was prettier than she remembered.

“Hi.” She was supposed to order and all she was saying was hi?

“Iced coffee right? Room for cream?” He asked

“Um yeah actually. That would be great… How did you-”

He interrupted, “I remembered from the other day. There hasn’t been a lot of customers. Um.. yeah. Anyway. I’m Yukhei.” He looked nervous. It was cute. A lot about him was cute.

“Chloe.” She smiled.

After she paid, she decided that maybe she could be bold and sit at the bar that overlooked the barista’s work area.

“You’re by yourself today, I guess?” He asked while starting to make her drink. She was one of four people in the shop. She hoped they stayed busy enough to at least stay open.

“Yeah, I came after class but my roommate has a few more classes for the day but my 9am is my only class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“Roommate? I kinda figured he was a boyfriend.” He cleaned a few dishes waiting for a new pot of coffee.

“No. We’ve been best friends for a few years. Living together was more for convenience than anything.” She shrugged. “I think we would kill each other if we dated.”

“That’s nice that you are that close. I’m not really close friends with any girls, so I thought your dynamic with him was really cool.”

“Thanks. He’s a nice guy.” She smiled and looked down. Renjun appeared a bit rough around the edges, but if he cared about you, it really showed.

“Really? He honestly scared me.” Yukhei turned and grabbed a cup and began to put ice in it.

Chloe laughed “You’re like twice as big as him.”

“He has this… this gaze. Like ‘I’m going to kill you in your sleep’.” He looked as if he was doing his best impersonation of it, but he just looked ridiculous. Chloe was laughing again. He had a natural goofiness about him that drew her in.

Her laughter subsided. “He does do that sometimes.”

“But!” He pointed the cup at her. “You’re nice and you live with him so he has to be at least kinda nice.”

“I’m glad that you think I’m nice. I’m touched.” She started to gather her creamer and sugar into a pie when she saw Yukhei pouring the coffee into the cup.

“I like your preparation pile. It’s cute.” He let out a small chuckle and handed her her drink. “Your iced coffee.” Another customer walked in, drawing his attention elsewhere. “Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

Chloe nodded and began the very intense procedure that came with doctoring her coffee to her liking. Once the coffee was a lighter color, she once again noticed writing on the cup.

“If you were a chicken, you’d be impeccable.”

It was so bad that it earned a small giggle. She got up from the bar and started walking home, trying to suppress the smile on her face the whole way. 

When Renjun got back, Chloe was asleep on the couch. She woke up to find him holding the coffee cup from earlier, the ice almost completely melted.

“If you were a chicken, you would be impeccable, huh?” He asked, a smile slowly growing.

Chloe covered her face and screamed. “Oh my god leave me alone! You’re worse than my mother.”

Renjun laughed and sat the drink back down before walking around the table to sit next to her. Chloe curled her legs into her chest to give him room to sit. “So, what did you say after he left this um… cute... note?”

“Was I supposed to say something?” Her eyes grew wide after realizing she just left after reading the cup.

“Chloe, do not tell me you left.” Renjun was raising his voice. “Oh my god! You left without saying anything! I thought the pick up line was dumb but you’re even dumber!”

Chloe groaned and leaned back against the arm of the couch. “I’m so stupid. I felt so like… giddy when I saw it and I just left.”

“You gotta go back and talk to him. I don’t know why I’m encouraging you when this is his flirting tactic,” he gestured to the cup. “But I refuse to let a cute boy hit on you and you do nothing about it. You’re going in Saturday morning and you’re going to hope and pray he’s there.” 

So she went Saturday. She didn’t exactly make it in the morning… It was closer to lunch time when she heard the bells jingle overhead. There was actually a line in front of her and she was happy to see that they were getting business. She was also a little bit upset realizing she wouldn’t be able to sit at the bar and talk to Yukhei like she did a couple days ago. She was even more upset when Yukhei wasn’t the one to take her order. In fact, she didn’t even see Yukhei. She sat at the bar and took out her phone

 

_Annoying Brat: junie he’s not here_

_Evil Devil Monster: Then get your coffee and come back._

 

Chloe put up her phone just to find Yukhei handing her her coffee. “Wish I could talk to you but it’s actually getting busy. Have a good one, Chloe.” He smiled at her and walked away before she could even say anything in return. She added her creamer and sugar and turned the cup to look for any writing.

“I wish I was cross eyed, so I could see you twice.”

This earned a full laugh. She didn’t know if it was from the ridiculousness of the line or if it was because she really didn’t think Yukhei was here today and her excitement was just making things seem funnier. She looked up and saw Yukhei’s back turned. His ears were red and when he turned to walk to the back, he had a smile on his lips. 

She made her way back to her apartment, coffee in hand. Renjun would give her a hard time about still not saying anything but at least she went. She walked in their door to find Jaemin cooking and Jeno on the couch with Renjun playing video games.

“Okay, I was not gone that long. Why does it look like the two of you moved in.”

“That would be so much fun! We should consider that.” Jaemin said excitedly, turning to meet her. “Jeno, what do you say?”

“No.” He answered bluntly. Chloe walked over to the counter and hopped up to sit close to where Jaemin was cooking.

“Whelp, nevermind then. How’s the coffee shop boy, Chlo?” His smile filled his face. There was a knock and the door to which Renjun responded, “Yeah, it’s open.” Jaemin’s girlfriend came in, prompting the already present smile to grow even wider. Chloe had met Emily quite a few times and really liked her. Jaemin seemed to glow around her. Plus, she was funny so the mood was always light when she was around.

“Emily, we already have a controller out for you.” Jeno yelled as Emily made her way over to Jaemin.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Emily yelled before hugging Jaemin. “Hey, Nana.” Jaemin kissed her forehead.

“Just in time. Chloe’s giving me an update on the coffee shop boy.” Jaemin kept an arm around her waist, but turned his attention back to the pot on the stove.

“Oh, yeah! Jaemin was telling me about that. Did you ever go back and see him?” Emily had a hand wrapped around his back and resting on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I went the other day and we talked for a bit.” She kicked her legs aimlessly as she sat.

Renjun yelled from the living room, “And he left a lame ass pickup line on your cup!”

“What did it say?” Jaemin asked

Before Chloe could answer, Renjun was already shouting, “If you were a chicken, you’d be impeccable.” Chloe could here Jeno laughing.

“I like that actually. It’s funny.” Jeno told him.

Jaemin then noticed the writing on her current cup. “Jeno! I think you’re going to like this one better!”

“What is it?” Jeno paused the game which earned an annoyed “Hey!” from Renjun.

He picked up the cup and turned it to better read the writing. “I wish I was cross eyed, so I could see you twice.” He looked down at his girlfriend. “I should have used something like that on you, angel.”

Emily groaned. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

Jeno was laughing in front of them. “Okay, I love these. Where can I meet this guy?”

“Jeno, you can’t be serious. That one was worse than the first one. Maybe you should date him.” Renjun grumbled and walked back to the living room. 

Jeno followed, “Nah, I’m good. I think he’s interested in Chloe anyway.” He yelled back towards the kitchen. “Hey, every time you get one of those, I want a picture. That’s incredible.” Chloe heard the game pick up again and was relieved to be able to just talk to Jaemin and Emily.

“Seems to me like he thinks you’re pretty cute.” Emily said before taking the bite of food Jaemin was offering her. She nodded and Jaemin was smiling once again. “He keeps writing on your cup. Have you said anything?”

“No, it was really busy today. He said he couldn’t talk and walked away.” She took a sip of her drink.

“Just keep going after your 9am. It seems to be pretty slow then.” Jaemin said. “Maybe you’ll get something you can give an answer to instead of just… the pick up lines. It’s a cute idea but it doesn’t give you a lot of room for response.” 

“It makes me so nervous and I don’t even know why.” She leaned her head back against the cabinets behind her.

“Because he’s cute and he’s flirting with you.” Jaemin said bluntly.

Emily agreed with him, “Seems like plenty to be nervous about to me.”

“Were you nervous when I flirted with you?” Jaemin asked, smirking.

She just sighed, “Don’t be all mushy in front of Chloe. But yes, I was very nervous.”

“I was nervous too, it’s okay.” Jaemin laughed and kissed her cheek.

“I agree with Emily. Don’t do this in front of me.” She acted annoyed but they really were sweet to each other. Emily left Jaemin’s side to go play whatever game Jeno and Renjun had on. 

Jaemin was soon lowering his voice. “I really was nervous. She’s so pretty and funny and I had no clue if she even wanted me flirting with her. I mean, I made it pretty obvious I was interested. She didn’t really respond at first, just kept talking to me when she didn’t have to. That was the only reason I got up the nerve to ask her on a date. I thought that there could be a small chance she liked me if she kept hanging out with me when I was so forward with my feelings. So maybe, if you just keep going to get coffee, he’ll see that you’re interested even if you don’t respond to the pickup lines. There’s a million other shops around campus you could choose to go to but you keep choosing that one and talking to him.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, just thinking out loud.”

“No, I think you’re right. I’ll stop by after class on Tuesday.” She hopped off the counter. “Thanks, Jaems, I appreciate it.”

He nodded and smiled in response. “Sure thing. Now go get our annoying friends and my angel of a girlfriend. Lunch is ready.” 

~~~

Chloe found herself walking into the coffee shop again on Tuesday morning. She was greeted by Yukhei’s deep voice, followed by a smile when he saw that it was her. It sent a warmth through her chest. “Hey! How are you?”

“I’m good. A little sleepy.” She answered honestly. She had a hard time sitting through class this morning.

“Good thing you’re getting coffee. Do you want the usual?” He was still smiling.  
“Yeah, thanks.” She moved to sit at the bar.

“How was class?” He asked.

“It was boring but it’s okay. Hey, I always see you here in the mornings. Are you taking any classes?” She didn’t know if it was weird to ask. What if he wasn’t in school? It was just something she wondered since she sees him working, even the mornings she doesn't go in.

“Yeah. I just have all my classes in the afternoons because I hate mornings. Then I got this job and now I work every morning. I’m kinda glad though because apparently afternoons and nights are really busy because students study here.” He filled a cup with ice and got it ready for the coffee when it was done brewing.

“Well I’m glad you’re getting business. And I’m not really a morning person either. It’s just this one class that was only available as a 9am.”  
“That’s the worst. I hate when that happens. At least you’re done for the day now.” 

“So I guess you have a couple classes today?” 

“Yeah, just two. They’re back to back, so I’ll get of at noon to make it to my 12:30. Then I’ll be done with my whole day by 3.” He poured the coffee and handed it to her, being sure to avoid messing up her pile of supplies.

“Honestly, that really isn’t bad. I wouldn’t mind that.” She said as she began to pour creamer and sugar into her drink.

“I have a few things to work on in the back, but I’ll see you later.” Before Chloe could say anything, he had already walked behind the curtain. She turned her drink to find writing once again.

“If I were to ask you out on a date, would your answer be the same as the answer to this question?”

She grabbed a napkin and scribbled yes, leaving it on the bar. The entire walk home, she tried to calm slightly shaky hands. When she walked into her apartment, she found Renjun sitting on the couch. “Hey, class was cancelled. You went to the coffee shop?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah…” She answered quietly. He couldn’t give her a hard time because she left an answer on the napkin.

Renjun grabbed her cup and took a picture, presumably sending it in their group chat. “You know, this one’s kind of clever. I like it. You left your number right?”

Chloe widened her eyes, “No… Should I have? I left an answer on a napkin. I said yes.”

“How is he supposed to ask you out on a date if you don’t leave your number? You’re absolutely helpless.” Renjun slumped against the couch.

“I at least said something this time! I’m going to my room. You’re mean.” She dropped onto her bed when she felt her phone going off.

 

_Evil Devil Monster: (one attachment)_

_Evil Devil Monster: And! She didn’t! Leave! Her! Number!_

_Jaems: Say it ain’t so, chlo…_

_Jeno: Come on. I’m starting to root for this guy. Give him some kind of sign_

_Chlo: I wrote yes on a napkin and left it!!!!!! I at least did something!!!!!!_

_Jeno: But how is he supposed to like… I don’t know… text you… without your number?_

_Evil Devil Monster: That’s what I said!_

_Chlo: I DID MY BEST OKAY NJKDSFHJ_

_Jaems: No need to yell and keyboard slam. But please, stop making this boy do so much work._

_Jaems: I’m sending this to em_

_Jeno: Just add her to the chat. You always tell us what she says anyway_

_Chlo: yes please add her. i need another girl in here_

 

Chloe threw her phone before even checking the rest of the texts messages.

~~~

On Thursday, she went into the shop _again._ Yukhei was once again working the front. It was to the point that Chloe wasn’t sure if she should blame her five visits in two weeks on a caffeine addiction. She was greeted by a smile once again.

“I was hoping you’d come in.” He took out an iced coffee already made and handed it to her.

“Wow, I’m impressed. But, should I be concerned that I come in too much if you know when and what day to have my coffee ready?” She realized that her frequent visits may be overkill.

“No. I like seeing you. Even if it’s just for a couple minutes.” He had gotten bolder since the last visit. She wondered if it had anything to do with the response that she left on the napkin.

“That’s good to hear since I come a lot.” She laughed and made her way to her usual spot at the bar. Just when her coffee was to her liking and she was turning the cup to look for writing, Yukhei was called back to the back. 

“I guess I’ve been avoiding my responsibilities for too long. I’ll see you. I was actually hoping to get too talk to you today, but I guess not.” He ran his hand through his hair before walking to the back. 

“I seem to have lost my number. Could I have yours?” was the new line.

She wrote her number on a napkin, took a picture of both and began her walk home.

 

_Chlo: (one attachment)_

_Evil Devil Monster: thank the *%$^ing lord_

_Emily: yay chlo you did it!_

_Jeno: man he really spelled it out for you this time_

_Chlo: I should have just left my number the first time_

_Jaems: I mean… yeah_

_Emily: yep_

_Jeno: yes_

_Evil Devil Monster: obviously_

_Chlo: i think i would have gotten the point if just one of you said it…_

 

Chloe got home and was able to go to her room without a disturbance from her roommate or random visitors. While working on her homework, her phone began going off again.

 

_Unknown: is this Chloe?_

_Chloe: Yes… is this Yukhei?_

_Yukhei: Presumptuous of you to think I would text you as soon as I could_

_Yukhei: Even though that’s exactly what I did_

_Chloe: cute. I’m glad you did_

_Yukhei: You happen to be free tomorrow for dinner?_

_~~~_

Chloe found herself pacing in front of her friends. She had been ready an hour early and had been sitting with nerves. “I don’t even know this guy. What am I doing. And are all of you gonna be here when he gets here?”

“Renjun told us to come over for movie night. I didn’t know your date was so soon. Also,” Emily said. “That’s kinda the point of the first date… to get to know each other.”

“You’re so smart, angel” Jaemin grabbed her hand and smiled at her.

Renjun grimaced. “God, you two are so gross. Emily could spit on your face and you would probably spend 30 minutes talking about how it was a gift.” Jaemin just shrugged in response.

“Wow guys, you’re really helping Chloe. She looks like she feels better already.” Jeno said sarcastically. Chloe looked the opposite of relaxed. She had moved to sit and she leaned forward in her chair, head in her hands.

“Look, I’m sure it’ll go great. You’ve already talked to him a few times and he seems nice. He obviously thinks you’re cute. The worst that could happen is that you don’t really click like you thought. If that happens then, oh well.” Jaemin said.

“He’s right. Just go. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, whatever. It’s honestly a dream case scenario. You don’t know the guy so you won’t have to worry about it being awkward when you see him.” Jeno added. He was right. It wasn’t like she _had_ to go get coffee there. Iced coffee was pretty easy to make at home. She never saw him on campus. This really was the dream set up.

She sighed. “Okay. I just… are you gonna embarrass me when he gets here? And do I even invite him in?”

“Renjun will embarrass you.” Jeno mumbled which earned him a punch in the arm. “Ouch. Okay, just say your roommate has his weirdo friends over for movie night. I think it’s okay to not introduce him to your closest friends before the first date.” 

“When he gets here, just slip out the door. The living room is right next to the door. We’ll turn all the lights off and have a movie going so when you open the door, it’ll look like we’re busy.” Emily suggested.

“That’s a lot of pretending when we could just actually watch a movie since it _is_ movie night..” Renjun grumbled.

Emily sighed, “But, we aren’t actually going to be watching the movie until Chloe leaves. You, specifically, will be waiting and nervous until she leaves. Jeno and Jaemin both wanna try to see the guy. I’ll be trying to calm down Chloe. We’ll have to restart the movie, so we might as well just put on something we don’t care about til he picks her up.”

“I approve of this one. We finally have someone who can properly argue against Renjun.” Jeno laughed.

They heard a knock on the door. “Now what?” Jaemin asked.

Chloe got up and left. It was probably incredibly awkward to crack the door, slip out, and immediately close it behind her, but she wasn’t going to throw Yukhei into the fire that is his friend group just yet.

“Well, hello.” Yukhei towered over her. She didn’t realize just how tall he was when he was behind the counter. When she was sliding out the door she had ended up with her face nearly in his chest. “I take it you’re ready to go?”

“Yeah, sorry. My roommate invited all our friends over for a movie night. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to meet all of them right away.” She admitted. 

He laughed. “I appreciate that. I was nervous enough about seeing you. I would really need to prepare before meeting all the friends. I don’t care what you say. Your roommate is scary.”

“Renjun’s really not that bad, I promise.” Chloe let out a small giggle.

“How did you decide to be roommates?” He asked

Chloe thought about how to word it. “I don’t want to make it sound like we lived together because we had to but that’s how it played out. Our friends Jeno and Jaemin offered to let both of us stay with them but it would have just been a lot with all four of us under one roof. Renjun and I have been just about inseparable since becoming friends. It’s nice but it was kind of social suicide. We were lucky we met two other people that were similar to us. We didn’t have other friends except each other and we couldn’t afford to live alone, so we’re living together. It’s worked out well honestly. We hang out when we want, but we can also just sit in silence I guess. It’s easier for him to do that then me. Sorry that was probably a lot more than you were looking for.” She was a little bit embarrassed with herself.

Yukhei smiled down at her. “I asked. I wanted to know. I like long answers better than short ones. Makes it feel like you actually want to have to conversation.” He opened to door to lead out of her complex. “Besides, I talk a lot so I can monopolize the conversation if I’m with someone that doesn’t talk.” It was reassuring. Chloe also talked a lot so she understood what he was saying. Hopefully with the two of them, there wouldn’t be awkward silence tonight.

“Well, what about you. Do you live alone?”

“I have my roommate. It was kind of a similar situation. All of our friends had already paired off and we didn’t think we could live with more than three total people so it was just us. It worked out though because I can’t really picture living with anyone else. We just kind of work. I think if I would have lived with someone else, our friendship would have been ruined. I’ve been told I can be a lot but, Mark matches my energy a lot of the time.”

“That’s really nice. Me and Renjun balance each other out, I guess? Like he mellows me out and I get him to not be a total recluse by making him go and do stuff with me. I bet it’s nice to have someone that compliments you though.” She realized that she was just walking with a boy she didn’t know to somewhere she didn’t know. “Where are we going?” Chloe asked.

“Oh! Sorry, I should have mentioned that.” He ran his hand through his hair. There’s this restaurant near the coffee shop. Totally forgot what it’s called but I’ve been wanting to try it for awhile.” She knew what he was talking about. 

“The small cafe, right? The one that looks like it’s dead all the time?”

“Yes! That one. I wanted to actually be able to hear you when we talked so I thought it would be a good place since it’s never very busy.” It was sweet that he even took something like that into consideration. He really did want to talk to her and get to know her. She appreciated it. 

They got to the cafe and were sat in a back corner. There were only a few other couples eating and they all seemed pretty spread out. 

“I guess I never asked you the few times you came to the shop, but what are you studying?” He asked flipping through the menu.

“Early childhood education. I really want to be a kindergarten teacher.”

He looked up at her surprised. “Wait, Really?” 

“Yeah… Do I not seem like I would like kids?” Chloe had usually been told that she’s great with kids.  
“No, it’s not that at all. That’s just exactly what I’m going to school for. I can’t believe I haven’t seen you around before.”

“You want to be a kindergarten teacher?”

“Yeah! I’ve never really been one for a desk job. I want to be doing something all day and I love kids. Kindergarten seems like a great place for me. I’ll be teaching but i want to make it fun so it’s more like a game.” He was beaming just from talking about it. She rarely saw people this excited to be teachers. Their passion usually died out halfway into their education. It was exciting to see someone just as eager to begin teaching as she was. 

They passed different teaching ideas back and forth after ordering their food. Chloe realized that he really did want an active classroom with a lot of activities. He seemed to really care about the fact that they’re just kids and making them sit all day long was cruel. She admired his reformative ideas and even asked if she could use a few in her own classroom. A few ideas were more out there like not having desks, just bean bags. Nevertheless she was inspired by his beliefs. He was creative and energetic. He was animated and excitable and a lit up the room with his smile. This side of him was different compared to the subdued boy behind the counter, but she could honestly say she preferred this boy. 

“I get told I would be a good teacher because I’m still a kid myself.” He laughed a little bit

“I mean… maybe…” she teased lightly, ”but, I think any kid that gets you as a teacher will be happy. Your classroom sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.” He smiled lately. “But, really. Why haven’t I seen you around before. We’re in the same major.”

“I’m sticking to the exact plan they gave me. It’s too stressful to try and figure out what to take and when. I just use their plan.” She shrugged.

Yukhei laughed again. “That’s exactly what I did. We won’t ever have overlapping classes if we’re both following that plan. I’m a year above you, right?”

“Yeah. I’m a sophomore. Hey, not to change the subject but have you seen our waiter lately.”

Yukhei looked confused. “Honestly, I haven’t. I feel like we ordered a while ago.” He checked his phone. “We definitely ordered an hour ago. Why did it take so long for us to notice?”

“I don’t know. I was honestly just talking to you so I wasn’t really thinking about food.” 

He chuckled. “Cute. I wasn’t really thinking about food either. But what do we do? Sneak out?”

She considered it. Sneaking out felt a little rude but as she scanned the small restaurant, she couldn’t find any waiter, much less their own. “If we stay here until we see a waiter, we may never leave. Plus, all we got was water so we aren’t skipping out on a bill.”

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself because I think we should just leave. I hate doing it but I actually am hungry now that I’ve thought about it.” He slid back his chair and cautiously got up before lowering his voice. “Now what we’re going to have to do is act like super spies. We’re gonna sneak out of here so no one notices. I suggest army crawl.”

Chloe started laughing before Yukhei shot her a warning glare and she covered her mouth. “I think that will draw more attention to us if we make a big deal of sneaking out.” She whispered.

He stood up straight and sighed. “I know you’re right, I’ve just always wanted to be like James Bond. I think I would be a great undercover spy.”

“Maybe we can fulfill your dream another time. I don’t think sneaking out of an almost empty restaurant will give you the thrill you’re looking for. Let’s go.” She nodded towards the door, but he wasn’t budging. Instead, he was giving her a small pout.

“What if… I made you my partner. Then we would both have to sneak out.” He suggested.

She thought about the proposition. “What if… I agreed.” He smiled. “But! No army crawling.”

“I believe that is a fair compromise, dear partner.” So they played super spy… as adults. He would “stealthily run” to a pillar before hiding behind it, leaning out only to check his surroundings before waving Chloe on and running to the next closest pillar. They did pretty well except when Yukhei somersaulted into a table, drawing the attention of everyone in the dining area. He looked at her and said “If I don’t move, they won’t see me.” Which would have been good logic except, he was lying in the middle of the room. He managed to finally continue the mission at hand once he felt like everyone was done staring at him. It definitely drew more attention and they both knew that, but it was actually really fun.

Once they made it outside, Yukhei started walking in the other direction toward her apartment, forcing Chloe to follow. “You’re not dropping me off already are you?”

“What? No. There’s just a good ice cream place this way.”

Chloe laughed. “That’s not exactly a meal.”

“Anything’s a meal if you eat enough of it.” He shrugged. On the way they talked about their families and their hometowns. Chloe learned that he was actually from Hong Kong and had just been studying here. He told her he liked it enough to try and stay permanently.

The ice cream place ended up being more like a fro yo bar. Yukhei spent 10 minutes trying every single flavor before deciding and literally _filling_ his cup. He looked almost childlike while filling his cup with as many topping as he could. Chloe wasn’t even sure it would taste good. Her cup was filled slightly less and had just sprinkles and chocolate syrup. He was absolutely lit up with excitement over his ice cream. Once he had paid, he lead her back outside.

“I remember seeing a park bench on my way to your apartment. Wanna sit there white we eat?” He asked before shoving a bite of his concoction into his mouth.

“Yeah, head that way.” So they walked.

Yukhei told her about his classes and his professors and how he was really enjoying everything this year because it’s stuff he actually cares about. Chloe told him about her test next Friday and how she’s nervous because it’s not that she was struggling, it was more that the class was just hard. They passed encouragements back and forth before they had the bench in sight. Yukhei excitedly pointed to it after noticing a dog wasn’t too far away. However, in the middle of his excitement, he had managed to knock the ice cream completely out of her hand and onto the street in front of them. 

Yukhei stood in shock before stammering. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention and I just-” He was cut off by Chloe’s laughing

“It was almost empty, Yukhei. Don’t feel bad. I feel bad that you keep trying to do stuff and it isn’t working out.” She was still laughing. “You were so excited about the dog.”

He looked less than amused. “Let’s just go, yeah?”

“But the bench is right there…” She pointed.

“I know. But, I think I ate too much ice cream. I’m really not feeling good.” His joyful tone from earlier was gone. He threw his empty cup into the nearest trash can and shoved his hands into his pockets. They walked back to her apartment in near silence. She was really unsure of what to say. The ice cream really was almost empty and she probably ate way too much of it anyway. It didn’t look like the boy next to her could be convinced otherwise though.

When they approached her apartment, Yukhei let out a small sigh. “I… I had a really nice time tonight Chloe. I just wish things would have gone better.” He rubbed her shoulder, turning to walk away before Chloe could say something in response.

Chloe walked in the door and straight to the kitchen. She didn’t want Yukhei to feel worse than he already did by saying she really was hungry, but now she has to eat. She was rummaging through the fridge when she heard someone behind her.

“How did it go?” Jeno was leaning against the doorway.

“He probably thought it was a disaster…” She sighed and closed the fridge. She really hoped that he wouldn’t disappear and ghost her because despite all the accidents, she had a good time. He was kind and funny and he seemed to actually listen when she talked, which was unfortunately more rare than it ought to be.

Jeno furrowed his brows, “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“What did he do, then?”

Chloe leaned against the counter. “He didn’t do anything either.” Jeno’s look of confusion intensified. “We went to go eat and our food never came. Literally never came. We waited for over an hour.”

“Why did you wait so long?” He asked.

“We lost track of time talking. We ended up leaving but we stopped to get ice cream and everything was going great until he accidentally… knocked it out of my hand.”

Jeno started laughing. “Sounds like everything went super smoothly.”

“I know… It was a mess.” She sighed. “But I really liked hanging out with him? I didn’t care that literally nothing worked out.”

“You may wanna tell him that then because I bet his confidence is pretty busted up after that. If I finally got up the nerve to ask a girl out and then it went that way, I probably wouldn’t show my face again.” Jeno said. “Just text him tonight. It’ll make him feel better. And he won’t be stewing in embarrassment for days.”

“You’re right.” Chloe chewed on her lip while trying to even think about what to send him

“Hey, let’s go out there with everyone. They’re gonna want to hear all of this.” He reached out to Chloe and wrapped his arm around her shoulder before walking out to the living room.

“We can have our sleepover now! Chloe’s back!” Jaemin waved. “How did it go?”

“I thought it went really well, but it was kinda unconventional.”

Renjun stared at her. “What does that even mean.”

“That it went terribly but I didn’t care because he was that nice and funny.”

“That’s sweet. I wouldn’t say it went terribly if you’re happy.” Emily said. Her head was on Jaemin’s lap and he was lightly playing with her hair, smiling at her per usual.

Chloe told them everything and Renjun laughed with Jeno. While they laughed at Chloe’s misfortune, she sent Yukhei a text and waited for a response.

“I’m sorry, Chloe. I shouldn’t have laughed.” Renjun was still laughing but it seemed genuine. “This guy just has terrible luck.” Chloe’s phone went off and she immediately checked it.

 

_Chloe: too early to ask about a second date?_

_Yukhei: I’m genuinely surprised you’re asking._

_Yukhei: but no it’s not too early_

_Chloe: good bc i really did have fun tonight_

_Yukhei: How about next friday? My place? I obviously can’t be trusted to go outside_

_Chloe: sounds good yukhei. I’ll see you then_

 

“We’re going out again next Friday.” She was more excited than she expected to be.

“Wait, you texted him already?” Renjun shot up. “You can’t text him minutes after he drops you off! You’re not desperate!”

“I told her to.” Jeno said before catching a piece of popcorn in his mouth. Jaemin got ready to throw another one before he spoke again “If I liked a girl, and I thought the date went god awful, i would want to hear from her pretty quickly since I would be too scared to reach out.” He caught another

“And what if you didn’t really like her?” Renjun asked incredulously.

“Honestly?” Jeno laid down, finding his pillow. “I would think it was really sweet that she was excited. I would probably go out with her at least once more before giving up. But I don’t think Chloe has to worry about him not liking her. He seems interested or he wouldn’t have been that upset at how the date turned out.”

Renjun rolled his eyes before he laid down, too. “So, when are you going to ask out your biology lab partner since you haven’t shut up about her since you got paired up.”

“Eventually… maybe… after the class is over. Not going to sign myself up for embarrassment. And leave me alone. Chloe just got back from her date This isn’t about me. Just hit play, dingbat.”

Chloe looked for a place for herself on the small living room floor. Jaemin laid down and Emily moved lay her head on his chest. Of course the boys couldn’t make it easy and lay in an orderly fashion, but Emily moving freed up a bit of space so she picked a spot next to her.

“Have you not been watching this while I was gone?”

“They were making conspiracies about your date.” Emily said before yawning.

Chloe sighed. “Did you really have nothing better to do?”

Jeno looked at her. “I know I just said a couple hours ago that I approved of you but don’t push it.” He waved his finger at her. “Jaems, your girlfriend ratted us out so you can explain.

“We just were talking about what you two were doing and what he had planned.” Jaemin said but Chloe could see his smirk even in the dark.

Emily started laughing. “No! You were all suspecting what kind of big secret he had.” She began pointing around the room “Jeno said a foot fetish, which I said was boring. Renjun said he was actually a clown for kids’ birthday parties. And Nana here, the most brilliant of them all, thinks he’s a robot.”

“Or an alien.” Jaemin mumbled.

“Don’t forget robot alien.” Renjun chimed in, propping himself up on his elbow.

Chloe didn’t expect anything different. “No, he’s a super spy.”

“Okay, what _really_ happened at dinner?” Jeno laughed.

Chloe laughed remembering the spectacle he created leaving the restaurant. “He wants to be a kindergarten teacher. That’s it. He’s got really good ideas, honestly.” They didn’t look like they believed her. “And when we were leaving, he said we should sneak out like spies. Then he rolled into a table.” This earned a laugh out of Jaemin. Which was followed by “I already hate him” from Renjun while Jeno simultaneously said “I love him.”

“Why did you leave that part out of the original story? That’s a highlight.” Emily said.

“Because Renjun thinks he’s an idiot and I was trying to give the boy a chance.”

“I don’t think he’s an idiot. I know he’s an idiot. The kids will love him.” Renjun said before lying back down. “Can we please, _please_ , watch the movie. We’ve talked about Chloe’s date longer than she was on it.”

Chloe threw a handful of popcorn at her roommate. “I didn’t tell you to make conspiracy theories while I was gone.” 

“Have fun cleaning tomorrow. I hope everyone rolls all over it during the night and the vacuum won’t work and then you have to pick it up by hand.” Renjun snapped.

She retorted “I hope you’re picking tiny popcorn pieces out of your hair and clothes for weeks like glitter.” 

“You crossed a line. You know I hate glitter.”

Emily looked up at Jaemin. “Are they always like this?” Jaemin nodded and kissed her nose when Jeno yelled “Hey!” over the bickering roommates and pressed play.

Chloe didn’t even make it halfway through the movie before falling asleep.

~~~

The next week was incredibly uneventful and before she knew it, Chloe found herself standing in front of Yukhei’s apartment. To say she was nervous was an understatement. Before she could knock, she felt her phone go off in her back pocket.

 

_Evil Devil Monster: I know you’re at his apartment, but keep it PG. We’re classy people._

 

Chloe rolled her eyes but the text from Renjun at least took her mind of her nerves long enough to actually knock on the door. 

“Hey! Come in! I’m in the kitchen!” She heard Yukhei yell and cautiously opened the door. She looked up to find his back to her across the room. He seemed to be bent over the stove working on something. There was a blue apron tied loosely around his neck and waist.

“Are you cooking?” Chloe asked, a small smile forming. Yukhei hadn’t mentioned mentioned that he liked to cook in the few interactions they had, but it was more than a pleasant surprise.

Yukhei turned to meet her, his smile quickly forming on his lips when his eyes met hers. When he reached up to scratch the back of his head, she couldn’t help but notice the way his sleeve became tighter around as his arm as the muscles flexed. Chloe wasn’t quite sure when she would stop being a little bit dumbstruck over his appearance.

“Well, um, I’m _trying_ to cook at least. I felt like with the way our first date went, it couldn’t get much worse. Let me put this in the oven and I’ll come out there with you. You can sit anywhere.” His voice had the same nervous tone that it did throughout the first half of their last date and she thought it was absolutely adorable.

Chloe sat on the couch and Yukhei wasn’t too far behind. He sat down next to her when she heard a loud, “Oh my god! Dude!” followed by a chorus of laughter. To which, Yukhei responded, “Sorry, my apartment has a ghost. He’s like really weird. Not quite sure how to get rid of him but he’s kinda grown on me?” He joked.

“Can you stop calling me a ghost to all your friends you bring over?” Chloe assumed this was his roommate. He looked extremely friendly and boyish. He was cute. His sweatshirt was a little too big but it didn’t swallow him. “Oh shit, this one’s a girl. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with a girl.” He teased and started laughing as if he had just told the funniest joke ever.

“Yes, thank you, Mark.” Yukhei rubbed his forehead. “You’re making me seem very cool right now. When are you leaving?” Yukhei dead panned.

“I have my study group in like 30 minutes so probably in the next 5. That eager to get rid of me?” Mark smirked

“No, I love you so much. You’re the roommate my soul has always longer for.” Yukhei tried to keep a straight face but his lip twitched slightly.

Mark crossed his arms and stood in front of the pair. “That sounded sarcastic.”

“I would never joke about my love for you. Be safe going over there.” His tone was genuine, whatever slight annoyance had dissipated.

“Hah, okay mom.” Mark chuckled while walking to the corner to pick up his backpack.

“Text me when you get there and take a jacket. It’s gonna be cold when it’s time to come back. Text me when you’re home too if I’m not still up.”

“Love you, bro.”

“Yeah you, too. Go study. You’re annoying me.” Chloe found the interaction charming. They were obviously close friends. Mark knew which buttons to push while Yukhei found it impossible to stay mad. She assumed it probably was the same the other way around. “Sorry about that. I love him but he likes to embarrass me.” Yukhei chuckles softly. “Hey, wanna play a game?” He smirked at her

“What kind of game…?” Chloe asked nervously. This could go a lot of different ways. They were alone in his apartment. She really thought the boy was nice and she was silently praying he didn’t do something like suggest some gross “game” and mess up any potential he had. 

“Guitar Hero? I’m trash at it but I think it makes it more fun when you’re bad. I had movies for later but we could do this for a little bit before hand.” 

Saying Chloe was relieved was a slight understatement. “Yeah, let’s play. I’m not good at it either.” She smiled at him and he excitedly shot off the couch and over to the tv in front of them. He was getting the game ready to go when he asked, “You had a test today, right? I remember you mentioning it last week at the dinner we never ate at. How did it go?”

“It went surprisingly well. I managed to actually sit down and study for it, so I have high hopes.” She remembered the comment about her test being in short and between conversations. It was sweet that he remembered even when it was barely mentioned. She appreciated that he was really listening to her when she spoke.

“Good, I’m glad.” She saw his small smile from where she sat. “Okay! I have not played this sober in a couple years. Usually we play it when the guys are over and we’ve had a few drinks.” He laughed, running his hand through his hair and gave her a guitar. “I also have a proposition for you.”

“A proposition?” She slung on the guitar and adjusted the strap. This felt super nostalgic yet also unfamiliar. She had never really played except for at friends’ houses so holding the guitar always felt awkward. 

“We have to both play on expert for at least the first two songs.” He adjusted his own guitar. She couldn’t help but watch his hands. She remember their dat last week and how his hand took up almost the entirety of her back.

“Okay… I’m starting to get the feeling you’re better at this game then you’re letting on. Plus, I don’t even know how fair this is with how big your hands are.” He seemed like he had a clear advantage.

“No. I really am bad. And my hands are _too_ big for this game.” He showed her how when he tried to press the keys, he would completely miss because because his fingers were too long. 

“But mine are too small. I can’t even reach the keys.” She wiggled her fingers by where the keys were, barely pressing the buttons.

Yukhei chuckled and smiled down at her. “Cute. My hand would swallow yours. I like it.”

A blush crept onto her cheeks while she tried to distract herself by adjusting the strap that she already fixed. He was so bold. It would catch her off guard a the worst times.

“Alright, so the proposition. We have to play on expert and we can’t just give up. We have to give it the best effort we can. I’ll play the mode where you can’t fail your guitar just smashes. Whoever has the highest score after 3 songs has to buy the other dessert on the next date. Deal?” 

“Very presumptuous of you to think I’ll go out with you again. But sure, deal.” She teased. “Just don’t do a stupid hard song.”

“I’m trying to win just as bad as you. I’m gonna try to pick something easy. I want ice cream.” He scrolled through the songs before picking some song that Chloe didn’t think she had heard before. It started and it took about 3 seconds before her guitar broke but thankfully, Yukhei wasn’t too far behind her.

“I’m starting to regret mentioning this. I don’t know if I’m even going to get any points.” Yukhei started laughing. He completely lost it when his guitar broke another two times before the chorus ended. His laugh echoed through the apartment and it was absolutely infectious. Chloe found herself laughing with him despite trying so hard to concentrate on the game in front of her. 

“Stop! I’m trying to win and you’re distracting me!” She laughed. Hers quickly matched Yukhei’s own volume and before long Yukhei was on the floor with his guitar cast to the side. After seeing that he had only accumulated 3,000 points while Chloe had 25,000, she allowed herself to join him, buckling over in laughter. 

“I thought you said no giving up.” she teased after her laughter slowly subsided.

“I want you to know, I tried my very best. I came to win.” He started laughing again, unable to even sit up.

“You came to win?” Chloe was laughing again, as well. “Yukhei, you only have 3,000 points! You didn’t even play!” Their laughter was rising once again.

“I hit like 10 notes. That’s pretty good.” Yukhei defended himself.

“Why did you even start laughing to begin with?” Chloe asked. “If you were taking it oh so seriously?”

“The screaming part sounded funny.” He started laughing again and began imitating what Chloe assumed to be the lead singer. His impression wasn’t even close to the song. It definitely wasn’t the right key, nor the right words. She wasn’t even sure he was singing the song they had just played anymore. She couldn’t hold her laughter back anymore. She didn’t want to encourage him, knowing his neighbors probably hated them right now but it was all too much. So they were laughing again.

“Okay, okay.” Yukhei took a deep breath. “We have two more songs and I’m still determined to win.”

Chloe raised her eyebrows. “I would have to not even play this next song for you to be able to catch up to me.”

“Ye of little faith. Trust me. I am a Guitar Hero god. Didn’t you see the mad shredding I did in the last song?”

They were laughing again. Chloe honestly felt as if she could burst from the happiness she felt around this boy. He was weird and a little bit crazy. All of it made her completely unafraid to be herself. 

Chloe picked the next two songs after they somehow managed to calm down. They played out almost the exact same. The only difference was that this time, it was the drums that sounded funny. He then made a variety of drum sounds before bursting out laughing once again. The last song ended with him on the couch pretending to break his guitar after his “epic solo”, spurred by the sound of the breaking guitar in the game.

“Oh my god, how do you play this drunk?” Chloe found herself back on the floor laughing. Her stomach was beginning to cramp up from all of it.

“Oh, I don’t. It goes somehow worse than this is going. I really don’t even know how I hold the guitar. Not because I’m that drunk, but because I think it’s funny. The keys make weird noises.” His laughter was possibly slowing down enough to have a conversation.

“The keys… make weird noises… They click.” She looked at him, the confusion probably evident on her face.

“Yeah, I try not to question my drunk self’s humor. My sober self’s humor doesn’t even make sense.” He shrugged and came to sit down next to her. “Now we need to add up scores.” Yukhei took the pen and pretended to do serious math when one of Chloe’s score would have been enough to win. “So it looks like I win!” He said with a huge smile. 

“How could you have won?” Chloe was laughing once again. 

“Well, really I won no matter who got the most points. Either I had to take you on a date or you had to take me out on a date. I get a date with you both ways, don’t I?” He was still smiling.

“Hm, I see what you did there. I will allow you to buy me the dessert you definitely owe me. Hey, when was our dinner supposed to be ready?” She remembered Yukhei mentioning something about putting dinner in the oven.

Yukhei stretched. His arms clasping above his head. “20 minutes.”

“It’s been an hour…” Chloe said softly. 

“Wait, what?” Yukhei got up and scrambled to the kitchen. When Chloe got up and stood behind him, she saw smoke leaking out from the oven. He hastily turned off the oven and locked his fingers together on the back of his head. He turned to face her. “Well, what now?”

“Do we open the oven?” 

“I don’t know. I’m kinda scared.” He said as he turned back to the oven. He took a deep breath and swung the oven door open. “Oh my god, no one should let me cook.” He coughed as the smoke billowed out of the stove. There was so much of it and Chloe soon found herself coughing as well. Yukhei shooed Chloe back to the living room which was a little bit away from the smoke for now.

“I’m gonna open the front door.” Yukhei walked down the short hallway to the front and returned, sitting next to Chloe on the couch.

There really was a lot of smoke. It was honestly irritating her throat. “Do you not have smoke detectors?” 

Yukhei slouched against the back of the couch. “No, I do. But the last time I cooked, I caught some noodles on fire. I got scared something like that would happen again, so I covered the detectors with duct tape.” He pointed to one of the detectors not too far from them. It looked like a  poorly wrapped package and Chloe couldn’t help but laugh.

“How often do you cook?” Her laughing was beginning to grow louder.

“Never.” He was now laughing too. “The only other time I cooked is when I caught the noodles on fire… while they sat in water.”

“You caught noodles on fire… in water. How is that even possible?” She asked. A laugh turned into a cough and Yukhei cleared his throat.

“I’ll tell you how. An we move to the hallway first though?” He stood up and extended his hand to her. She accepted, but instead of letting go when she stood up, he laced their fingers together. “Hm, my hand does swallow yours, doesn’t it?”

“I like it.” Chloe’s unexpected boldness brought a light pink to Yukhei’s cheeks. She liked that too.

After Yukhei flipped on as many fans as he could, they made their way into the hallway outside his apartment. Yukhei then explained that when he was making some noodles, only half were actually in the water. The rest were propped up against the pot, not entirely submerged. He doesn’t know how it happened, assumes the heat from the pot was too much, but the dry part of the noodles caught fire. Yukhei didn’t even realize until the smoke detector was beeping. “Ever since then, I told Mark that I will not be cooking. I just wanted to do something nice tonight. Didn’t think it would be that much of a mess.” He sat down against the wall next to his door. He patted the ground next to him, inviting Chloe to join.

She sat down next to him. “Does Mark cook then?” She asked as he went to hold her hand again. Her heart started to pick up and before long, it was pounding.

“Mark? He’s just as bad as me, just a different bad. He tries to fry eggs with chopsticks and cuts fruit with scissors. Neither of us cook. We buy take out a lot or go to our friend Taeyong’s apartment. He likes to cook and he’s really good at it. I think he wants to be a chef. He hosts weird little friend dinners as an excuse to cook for everyone. I don’t think his roommate realizes how lucky he is.” His thumb ran small circles over the back of her hand. 

“Why don’t you and Mark move in with him? It would probably be cheaper if there were four of you anyway, right?” Taeyong sounded like a pleasant guy and Chloe definitely understood the perks of having a roommate who could cook.

“Taeyong and Jaehyun are very clean. And I mean _clean_. I think we would drive Taeyong to a mental breakdown. Every time we come over, he threatens to spray us down with febreze.” He laughed. The image he painted was definitely interesting. “Do you cook?” He looked down at her. Even sitting, Yukhei towered over her. 

“Me? Uhh kinda? I’m not horrible at it, but I wouldn’t go around saying I can cook. I know how to make a couple basic things. Renjun does more cooking than I do.” Her stomach growled and Yukhei let out a small laugh. 

“Why don’t we order pizza? We have to eat something.” He took his phone out of his pocket.

“Pizza works.” She found herself resting her head against Yukhei’s arm. It felt comfortable so she stayed like she was while he ordered their pizza.

After finishing the order, he let out a soft sigh. “Okay we have food on the way.”

Chloe let out a small yawn and leaned a little closer into him. “Sounds good to me.”

They sat in silence for a bit, Chloe resting on his arm and Yukhei drawing various shapes on Chloe’s hand.

“Are you tired already? It’s only 9.” He asked quietly. It was so soft and gentle, not at all like the way he was inside.

Chloe nodded. “You really wore me out with the guitar hero.” She started giggling again remembering how the night had played out so far. “I’ll revive again after some food, trust me.”

“You’re making yourself sound like a robot.” Chloe lifted her head from his arm as he began laughing and he squeezed her hand. It sent a warmth through her arm, but she wasn’t sure what had made him laugh so hard. It drew a smile to her face anway.

“Why is that so funny?”

“You could be called ‘Chlobot’, hah!” He was laughing so hard at his own joke that Chloe was finding it impossible to not join in.

“You can _not_ call me that!” Her laughter was taking over again. She leaned on him fully once again and they laughed together over the less than impressive joke the boy had just made. 

“What if I call you that when you’re tired?” He smiled at her when they had calmed down.

She smiled back, “Something tells me I’m not going to be able to stop you.”

“You’re right. You’re not.” His smile slowly faded but he maintained the eye contact. It began to make her nervous when he started to lean in. Especially so when he was so close their noses were touching. “Every other time I’ll just call you Chlo.” His voice was much lower. It felt incredibly intimate with his breath on her lips. Just when she felt as if their lips could touch, they heard someone clear their throat. They separated rather quickly and faced the delivery boy.

“Um, sorry to interrupt. It’s just that I think this pizza is yours.” He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable with interrupting whatever they were doing.

“Oh um, yeah probably. That was really fast.” Yukhei stood up and took the pizza. “Thanks, man.” The delivery guy nodded in response and took his leave. Yukhei sighed and slid down the wall, holding the pizza.

“Well, my dear, you food is here. Sorry I didn’t cook it.” He laughed. 

“Food is food. I’m not going to be one to complain.” She took a piece out of the box and turned so she could face him. So there they sat in this middle of the hallway in his apartment complex, eating pizza and waiting for the smoke to clear out of his apartment. Yukhei made bad jokes and Chloe began to make just as many.

“So I know you told me how you and Renjun ended up living together, but how did you meet?” Yukhei asked between pieces of pizza.

“We were in theater together.” Chloe shrugged. “He was in technical theater though. He’s an incredible artist and he painted some of the most beautiful sets I’ve ever seen. It was the last play in middle school and I finally told him that his sets were pretty and that they really helped the play. He the told me that no one pays attention to the set because they’re too busy watching me. It was a weird interaction but we somehow became friends from it. I found out he lived a couple houses down from mine so I would go over to his house a lot during the summer. I don’t know if he really wanted to be my friend but I didn’t give him a choice. As soon as high school came around we were inseparable.”

“I’m sure he did want to be friends if you’re now living with him. When you both came in that first day, he didn’t seem like the type to spend time with people he didn’t like.” Yukhei could flip like a switch. One minute he would be laughing and making jokes not even children would laugh at and the next he would be intently listening to a story she was telling. She appreciated that his fun side didn’t overshadow his more sensitive side.

“He’s not. He always calls me the sister he never asked for but got anyway. I think he secretly loves me.” She smiled softly. She loved Renjun. He had always been a strong support system for her. He was resilient and tough when she’s not. He cared about her and she cared about him. There was a strong friendship that they had built through a mutual respect for each other. “What about you and Mark?” She turned and leaned back against the wall.

“What about me?” Mark said coming up the stairs. “Why are you sitting in the hallway?” Mark walked up to the two and sat down. He grabbed a piece of pizza and grimaced when he found that it had gone cold. “Man, how long have you been out here?”

“That’s a lot of questions for someone who just interrupted a date.” Yukhei teased. “Chloe asked how we met. We’re sitting outside because I burned the dinner and there was a lot of smoke. We’ve been out here for about two hours. Anything else?”

“Yeah. Can we go inside? I feel weird kinda sitting in the hallway. Also I want to tell the story of how we met.”

“I would rather you didn’t.” Yukhei sighed standing up, grabbing the pizza box. “I know you’re going to tell the other the embarrassing version and I think I’m just now getting Chloe to think I’m not a total failure.”

Mark yelled from inside. “Didn’t you burn the dinner? And why is Guitar Hero out? I thought we decided that was for our trademarked drunk boys night because if you play sober it’s too embarrassing.”

“It has begun. Please, try to keep however small of a good impression you may have on me.” He said quietly to Chloe before leading her back inside the apartment that they abandoned earlier. “I had to beat her. Show her what a champ looked like.”

Mark held up the paper where they were keeping score. “It looks like you both suck. But you somehow sucked more than you do drunk. Jaehyun would never let you live this down if he saw your scores sober.” He laughed and took a picture of the paper before putting it down and flopping on the couch. “So, you wanna know how we met? I don’t know your name sorry. Yukhei tells me nothing. He’s like scared of me or something.”

“Chloe. Nice to meet you.” She said.

“Oh! You’re the one that Yukhei has been telling Taeyong and Jaehyun about over the phone for weeks! He even had them come over and help him pick an outfit for your first date.” Mark started laughing, clutching his stomach. Chloe found the whole thing sweet. She knew Yukhei was embarrassed and it was cute.

“Hey, it’s getting late. Let me walk you home.” Yukhei said quietly, his hand pressed against her back.

“Does this have to do with your roommate?” Chloe smirked.

“Yes and no. It has more to do with the fact that it’s 11 and I’m scared of your roommate killing me for keeping you out.” He left her side to get a jacket.

She watched him and raised her voice a little so he could hear over his roommates never ending laughter “How will you get back?”

“I think I can survive walking a block alone, Chlo.” Her heart skipped at the nickname. He smiled at her and took her hand leading her out the door.

“Wait! I didn’t get to tell you how we met!” Mark yelled as Yukhei closed the door.

Chloe intertwined their fingers and looked up at him.

“How did you meet?” She didn’t understand how bad it could be. He was avoiding it intensely. 

He ran his other hand through his hair. “Well, I hit on his _then_ girlfriend. But she didn’t know I was hitting on her? And then I tried to befriend Mark by talking about how pretty his girlfriend was and telling him that I tried to flirt on her but she curved me. And all he said was, ‘I sure hope so since that’s my girlfriend.’ Then, somehow we became friends? I’m not sure. We were both drunk. It was a crappy college party and we were both freshmen that didn’t know anyone. But, Mark likes telling the story because he mentioned it to his then girlfriend and she told him everything I said. You’ll probably hear it at some point if you decide to stick around.” He shrugged and stuck his free hand in his pocket.

“It couldn’t have been that bad. I mean the weird part is that you became friends with Mark after openly talking about his girlfriend. Most guys would have gotten all possessive and fought you or something.” It was really weird. Mark must be that easy going of a guy to not be bothered.

“He found it funny. He said really he just liked knowing other people thought she was as pretty as he did. It was weirdly sweet? Then he laughed at one of my jokes and he was like ‘I like you. Let’s be friends.’ And it was my first week in college so I stuck with him. Now, I don’t really know how I would have survived without him.” 

“That’s nice. I’m glad you met him. Even if he holds how you met over your head. He seems nice.” She slightly swayed their hands between them.

“Yeah, maybe you can get to know him as Mark and not the guy trying to embarrass me every second. You’d probably get along pretty well.” He slowed down as they approached Chloe’s building. “Hey, look. I’m sorry tonight didn’t turn out exactly as planned.”

“Honestly, I liked it. It seemed very you. And I kinda like you.” She took a step up onto the few stairs in front of the complex and turned to face him. He still was taller than her but the steps at least sort of evened it out.

“Kinda?” His voice was lower. Matching the tone he had in the hallway when they were waiting for their pizza. He took a step closer to her and Chloe found herself swallowing nervously.

“Yeah, kinda. I might take you up on buying me dessert since I did win.” Chloe spoke quietly. Yukhei somehow got closer to her. 

“I’d like that.” His hand reached up to hold her cheek and he leaned in. His lips met hers and his hand dropped to the back of her neck. She reached out to brace herself by grabbing onto his sweatshirt around his waist. He continued to kiss her and she began to wish the delivery guy hadn’t interrupted them earlier so that she could have had this twice. It all felt a little too surreal. This beautiful boy was interested in her, kissing her. And he was good, really good. He broke away, rubbing his thumb over her cheek before leaning in once again. Before she could deepen the kiss, Yukhei broke away and kissed her forehead. His hand ran from her neck, down her arm, and into her own hand. 

“Come get coffee tomorrow?” He asked softly.

All she managed to say was “Yeah.”

He lifted her hand and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles before starting to walk away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Chlo.”

She somehow managed to walk into her complex besides her legs being completely weak from the kiss just a few seconds ago. When she reached her own apartment, she snuck slowly through the door and closed it quietly, resting her head on the door. She still felt his lips on hers and all she could think about was kissing him again.

“You’re home late.” Renjun said from behind her. Chloe turned to find him standing with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

“Yeah. We just lost track of time talking. I didn’t even realize I was gone so long. Why are you still up?”  
“I just want to make sure this guy is actually respectable and deserves you. Did you have fun?” He turned and walked into the living room, and Chloe followed shortly after, taking a seat on their coach and hugging her pillow. 

“Honestly? I had a lot of fun. He’s really funny and easy to talk to. I guess that’s how it was so easy to lose track of time.” She rested her chin on the pillow.

Renjun reached out to the table to grab a mug of what looked like tea. “What did you do?” he asked before taking a sip.

Chloe told him about the guitar hero, the dinner burning, the pizza in the hallway.

“That’s it? That’s all you did? I figured since he asked you over to his apartment, he had something planned but he really just wanted to hang out with you. I think I may like him. Even if I do still think he’s a little dumb.”

Chloe laughed. “Renjun!”

“Okay, okay sorry. But really. He didn’t even try to make a move?” Renjun asked. “Weird that you were alone all night and literally nothing happened except for him holding your hand. I told you to keep it PG not G.”

“Well, it seemed like he was going to kiss me when we were outside his apartment, but the pizza guy interrupted.” She said rubbing her neck.

“And he didn’t try anything else the rest of the night?” Renjun didn’t look fooled. 

“Umm,” she started “he kissed me when he dropped me off.”

“Thank God. I was starting to think the boy really was dumb.” He put his mug on the table. “Was he good?”  
Chloe buried her face in her hands. “Really good. It’s honestly annoying. He’s perfect.”

“I’m just glad he’s nice to you. I’m gonna go to bed. I just wanted to stay up to make sure you got home.” Renjun patted her leg and stood up. 

Chloe sat in the living room, thinking about the entire night. She had been so happy. She can’t remember the last time she laughed that much and that hard. She walked to her room with a smile on her face.

~~~

Chloe walked into the coffee shop on a Thursday morning after class. She went ahead and sat down at her normal spot on the counter. Yukhei usually had her drink ready for her by the time she came in and was refusing to let her pay for it anymore. Saying her iced coffee probably cost the store a dime. “Good morning, beautiful.” He smiled and handed her her cup. Somewhere along the line he had counted just how many half and halfs and splenda she added to her cup and began doing it for her.

“Good morning. I had a question for you.” She took a sip of her coffee as Yukhei leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter and holding her hand.

“What is it?” His thumb rubbed lazy circles over hers.

“Do you wanna have movie night at my place tomorrow? Renjun’s gonna be out and I figured we could just hang out. Not a lot can go wrong if we’re just watching a movie. If you don’t have anything planned already.” She felt nervous asking him out. She didn’t think it had anything to do with asking him but more to do with being able to hang out with him and see him again.

He started smiling at her. “Yeah. Let’s do that. So just meet you at your place?”

“Yes sir.” She smiled back at him.

“See you then, Chlo.” He walked back to the back

On the back of her cup, “Are you French? Because Eiffel for you.” was scrawled in lazy handwriting 

~~~

A knock sounded on Chloe’s door and before she could respond, Renjun was answering.

“Oh, hey, um. Renjun, right?” She heard Yukhei and immediately left the kitchen to meet him.

“I am. Didn’t know you were coming over tonight.” Renjun was blocking the door with his arms crossed. Yukhei really was much bigger than him, yet he still looked intimidated by the boy in front of him. 

Chloe stepped in. “I didn’t know you were still going to be here.”

“So you just weren’t going to tell me at all?”

“I knew you would try and stay just to interrogate him. I was going to tell you when you got home.”

Renjun rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Have fun. Don’t be stupid or I’ll never let you live it down. I’m leaving.”

“Have fun on your not date.” Chloe waved at him, pulling Yukhei inside.  
Renjun was forced outside as a result. “It’s a school project.”

“And you’re meeting Friday night at 7:30?” She questioned.

“I said I was leaving. I’ll be home before midnight.” He grabbed his jacket from inside the door and left before Chloe could make another remark. 

“I’m still scared of him” Yukhei mumbled. 

Chloe lead them inside and Yukhei walked over to the couch. He set down a box she hadn’t even realized he had been holding. She set a bowl of popcorn on the table before asking, “What’s that?”

“Well, I lost. I owed you dessert so I brought cookies.” He opened the box. “I got chocolate chip.” He leaned back with a cookie in his hand. “Can we take the cushions off the couch?” He asked looking around.

Chloe was slightly confused “Yeah, I think so. Why?”

Yukhei’s smile lit up the whole room. “Let’s build a fort.”

So that was exactly what they did. Yukhei stripped the cushions from the couch, the loveseat, and the chair and began to masterfully stack them into a tent like structure. Chloe collected all the blankets in the house and her comforter. She also pulled the bar stools from their kitchen into the room and let Yukhei arrange them, all the while talking about classes and his work and new ideas they had for the classroom. By the time they were finished, the had enough room to completely sit up in the fort. Chloe had enough room to lay down but Yukhei’s feet stuck out quite a bit due to his height. He seemed extremely proud of his work and got out to admire the work before diving back in again.

The inside had so many blankets and pillows that it was actually pretty comfortable to lie on. Chloe tried not to think of how Renjun would react when he came home to the mess. But in the meantime, she enjoyed the pairs creation and worked on getting all the snack and drinks inside the fort. Yukhei set up a few pillows so they would be able to sit up slightly and enjoy the food. 

He picked the movie, but Chloe knew they would probably talk through the whole thing anyway. He would make snide remarks that would lead to an off topic conversation and laughing that would only lead to them restarting the movie, Yukhei complaining about missing a part. Of course then Yukhei would then just laugh at the same part remembering the comment he had made the last time they watched. It was almost as bad as playing Guitar Hero. The laughing fits would last almost just as long.

At some point the decided that it was finally time to settle down so they started the movie from the beginning and planned to watch it with minimal interruptions. However this watch through was just as distracting as the first. Yukhei was touching her just enough to send her thoughts to him and away from the movie.

Throughout the beginning of the movie, he gave small, cautious touches. He went from barely grazing his hand against hers, to holding it, to gently rubbing up and down her arm with his free hand. She would be lying if she said she didn’t want to be closer, to actually have him hold her. Ever since the last time they were together, Chloe thought about kissing him and being close to him pretty often. She wondered about what it would be like to kiss him for just a little longer than she did last Friday. Now that they were alone in a fort with a movie playing softly in the background, it was all that she could think about. She appreciated that Yukhei was being respectful and not overly touchy but it didn’t change the fact that she wanted a little bit more. She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder.

She felt a little accomplished when he kissed the top of her head and moved his arm to wrap around her shoulders, his fingers lightly trailing up and down her arm. They sat like this for awhile, her head on his chest, before Yukhei spoke. It was barely above a whisper. “I’m really glad you kept hanging out with me after that first night.”

She looked up at him. “I’m glad I did too.” She leaned forward to kiss him lightly. Before she went to move away, Yukhei place a hand under her jaw, tilting her lips to better fit with his own. He deepened the kiss by moving the arm around her shoulders to her waist and pulling her closer to him. She was now barely on top of him, his hand trailing up and down her back to under her shirt, nails gently grazing her skin. His tongue lightly pushed through to meet hers and his other hand moving to the back of her neck, pulling her closer. His tongue slowly moved against her bottom lip before barely pushing in and meeting her own. Chloe found herself slightly sighing into the kiss which only resulted in Yukhei pulling her closer and the kiss becoming heavier. She raked one of her own hands through his hair earning a small satisfied sound. She gave a small pull to the stands between her fingers.

Yukhei rolled the two of the over so he could be above her, pressing small kisses to her neck in the process. He left a quick bite in the crook of her neck before returning to her lips, which he greeted by taking her bottom lip between his teeth. His hands were roaming to anywhere he could touch. Chloe ran her hands down his side to his hips and up his back. He pressed his body slightly into hers, lowering himself onto his forearms. He sighed slightly when Chloe made her way down to his neck sucking slightly before moving to each new spot. Yukhei moved to better position himself above her, attempting to place a leg between hers.

However, in the process, he kicked over the bowl of popcorn that was previously sitting between them. They both tuned to look at it and Yukhei mumbled a quiet, “shit” before burying his head in Chloe’s neck. He let out a small laugh and she joined him. He pressed a small kiss to the base of her neck before sitting up to clean up the mess he had just made with the popcorn. “Honestly, may be good that I accidentally knocked the popcorn over or I don’t know how far I would have tried to take that.” He laughed nervously. The comment sent heat through Chloe’s body, but she tried her best to ignore it. She wasn’t quite sure how far she would have let it go.

“I just have been wanting to really kiss you since the first night but then that didn’t exactly have the ending I was wanting.” He ran a hand through his hair.

“The second date went well. And you kissed me dropping me off.” She said. He could have just kissed her a little bit longer.

He threw a piece of popcorn at her. “I know what you’re hinting at but we were in the middle of the street. I like to think I’m a slightly classy guy.” He chuckled before eating a piece of popcorn and moving back to lay next to her. When he started to lay back, he sat back up and turned to look behind him.

“Oh yeah! The cookies! I almost laid on them.” He held up the box offering her one before taking one for himself. 

They both got comfortable again after the popcorn was put back into the bowl and placed _far_ to the side. By the time the cookies were gone, Chloe had three and Yukhei had the other nine. They almost finished the movie curled up together talking about their family, legs tangled with Chloe’s head on his chest and his hand combing through her hair. Just before the credits, Yukhei moves and lays his head on Chloe’s stomach, wrapping his arms around her. She laughs a little but he doesn’t respond.

“Hey, are you okay?” She rubbed his back.

He buried his face into her stomach, “No.”

“What’s wrong.” She was confused. Everything was going fine until a few seconds ago.

“If I tell you, you’re gonna think I’m dumb.” He sighed.

“I won’t think you’re dumb, Yukhei. What’s bothering you.” She spoke softly and ran her hand through his hair.

“I ate too many cookies.”

Once she had processed what he said, she really did have to try not to laugh. This college aged boy had a stomach ache because he had too many cookies. “Okay, well. I don’t want you trying to walk home if you don’t feel good.” She shifted underneath him and climbed out of the fort, offering her hand to Yukhei. “Let’s go to my room. You’re not going to want to be laying there when Renjun gets home. He’ll interrogate you.” Yukhei took her hand and followed her into her room. 

Chloe got into bed and invited Yukhei to follow. He curled into her side and rested his head on her chest. He made light jokes despite not feeling the best, each one earning a small laugh from Chloe. They talked for quite a bit while Chloe rubbed his back and held his hand. Yukhei told stories from elementary school and how he used to get in trouble a lot as the class clown. She listened to all of them until he slowly drifted to sleep and she was quick to follow. 

Chloe woke up to Renjun coming into her room. “Why did you just build a fort and then… oh.” His sentence trailed off upon seeing Yukhei still in the apartment. “Third date and you’re already sharing a bed, huh?” She could see his quiet smirk in the dark. 

“First date and you’re already out til,” she checked her phone, “2:15am? Wow. I’m proud of you. You said you would be home before midnight.” She carefully slid out from underneath Yukhei and placed his head on a pillow before leaving the room and quietly shutting the door behind her. 

“I told you, it was a group project. What’s your excuse?” He pointed a finger at her as they walked into his own room. He made a noticeable grimace as he walked past the mess the two made in the living room.

Chloe shrugged. “He’s sick.”

Renjun stared at her in disbelief. “You did not fall for the ‘cough, cough, I’m sick.’ bit. Chloe, come on!”

“This isn’t Mean Girls, Renjun. He ate nine cookies. I’m sure he actually doesn’t feel well.” She climbed into his bed.

Renjun climbed in after her. “Alright. I guess we’re back to having sleepovers. I thought maybe I had finally gotten you to sleep in your own bed.” Chloe tried to shove him off the bed but he grabbed her arm and pulled himself back up. “Seriously, though. Are you sure this is a good idea. The boy sounds like he has two brain cells. Who willingly eats nine cookies in one sitting?”

“They were good cookies…” she mumbled.

He looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. “You really like this guy, don’t you.”

She nodded. “Before you tell me, ‘it’s only been three dates how do you know?’, I see him every time I go to get coffee. I sit and talk to him for about thirty to forty five minutes three times a week. He’s so nice and funny and surprisingly respectful. He didn’t try anything crazy when we moved to my bed and he honestly didn’t even try anything when we were watching the movie.”

“If you genuinely do like this guy and if he is as good of a guy as you say he is, I will do my very best to give him a fighting chance. I might always think he’s stupid though.” They both laughed.

“Renjun?” She asked softly

He turned to look at her. “What?”  
“Is it okay if I’m scared. Like I know I _just said_ I see him a lot but I guess it still feels fast for me to like him this much.”

Renjun let out a low whistle. “That bad?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was still at whisper level.

“Look, you can’t help who you like and how much you like them, but what you can do is make sure they’re worth it before setting yourself up to get hurt. Just at least do that for me. I don’t want to call Jaemin and Jeno to comfort you.”

“You wouldn’t do it?” She smiled slightly knowing he was teasing.

He laughed. “Absolutely not. When have I ever helped you with heartbreak?”

“This isn’t fair. You haven’t had to. I know you would help me if I needed it.” She was laughing with him, trying to stay quiet as to not wake up boy in the room next door.

“Hmm. Maybe you’re right.”

After the laughter faded, she spoke again. “I’m gonna be honest for a second. I’m scared I’m gonna mess this up.”

“Every date that you’ve had, he’s the one that messes it up. Yet you still like him, right?” He rubbed his face. “If he doesn’t give you the same courtesy when you make a small mistake, he really is dumb.”

She wanted to answer but she wasn’t sure how or even what to say. Renjun was rarely openly nice to her. His kindness was hid behind harsh words that were followed by thoughtful actions. So she nodded.

“I love you. I really do. And I surprisingly want to hear about your date with Bozo the clown that ate nine cookies but I’m really tired.”

“From the _group project_?” She teased.

He rolled his eyes. “Just group project. Not _group project._ Now goodnight.” He rolled over and Chloe took that as her cue to stop talking and try to sleep as well. 

~~~

Chloe woke up to hear talking in the kitchen. Once she heard it was Yukhei and Renjun, she shot out of bed, terrified of the conversation that could be taking place. When she heard laughter, her fear somehow increased. Renjun had a lot of embarrassing stories from high school that she would prefer for Yukhei not to hear just yet. She rounded the corner to find Renjun at the stove and Yukhei sitting at the bar. “Well, good morning Sleeping Beauty. It’s about time you got up. Even sick kid got up before you.” Renjun pointed a spatula at the boy sitting across from him. “You know what, Chloe? I was quick to judge the guy. He’s funny. I still think he’s a little dumb, though.”

Chloe opened her mouth to defend him but Yukhei’s laugh interrupted her. “I’m not dumb. I just don’t think sometimes, we went over this my man.”

“Hmm. Whatever you say. Chloe, you want eggs?” Renjun smiled at her.

“I guess? What’s going on?” She moved to sit next to Yukhei and instantly reached out to hold his hand, which he thankfully gave her without hesitation.  
Yukhei smiled at her. “I woke up and Renjun was making breakfast and offered to make me some. We’re friends now.”

Renjun’s eye seemed to twitch. While with most people, if you moderately get along, they are referred to as your friend. With Renjun, he calls a total of four people his friend. Emily just earned the title last movie night now that her and Jaemin have been dating for 6 months and she didn’t show any signs of leaving. 

“Hey, are you feeling better.” She reached out to hold a hand to his forehead. She knew he was probably fine, but she still felt the need to check up on him.

He smiled at her and she swore that it could have lit up the room on it’s on. “I think I just needed to sleep it off. Thanks for letting me stay here and I’m sorry for running you out of your own bed.”

“No, it’s okay. I got to have a sleepover with Renjun. We haven’t done that in a long time, have we Junie?”

“No. Because we live together. We don’t need to have sleepovers.” He put eggs on Chloe and Yukhei’s plates and ate the rest out of the frying pan with his fork.

“How was your date?” Yukhei asked between bites. 

Renjun shot Chloe a death glare and she attempted to stifle her laugh. “It was a school project. And it was fine. We finished it all in one sitting. We did it on a Friday night so we could stay up all night to work on it if we needed to.”

Yukhei looked confused. “Why did you call it a date? It actually does sound like a group project.”

“I never called it a date. Chloe called it a date.” Renjun put the pan in the sink and let out an exasperated sigh only to look up to find Yukhei smiling. He narrowed his eyes. “You did that on purpose.” He wagged his finger towards him. “You’re not as dumb as you look. I might be okay with Chloe keeping you around. “

“Speaking of, Chlo, can we take a walk.” He sounded nervous which only made Chloe nervous. 

“Yeah, uh, let me get a jacket.” She got up, threw on a sweatshirt and followed Yukhei out the door.

They walked in relative silence until they got to a park. They made their way down the trail and to a park bench by the water. A few kids were playing at a playground nearby and Yukhei smiled towards them. “So, I uh… I don’t really know how to start this.”

Chloe felt her heart sank. She really was hoping the entire way over here that he wasn’t going to kinda just call things off but the lack of conversation and awkward start planted a seed of doubt.

“Look, I really like you. I honestly do. And I want to keep seeing you. I’m just at the point that I’m scared you’ve had enough of me continually messing things up. We’ve been on three dates and none of them have gone as planned. When I woke up in the middle of the night last night and you weren’t there, I was convinced that you were done. So I guess this is me just saying that I want to keep having dates with you, even if they keep turning out poorly.” He sighed.

“I didn’t leave last night because I was frustrated with you. I left because Renjun gave me a hard time about sharing a bed with you on the third date.” She answered reaching out to grab his hands that were clasped in front of him. It forced him to look at her. “I don’t care that the dates keep going wrong because I have never thought that they were bad. I liked sneaking out of the restaurant. I thought that it was sweet that you were that upset over the ice cream. I loved eating pizza in the middle of the hallway because you burned the dinner you tried to cook for me. And I kinda liked taking care of you because you ate too many cookies. I’ve genuinely enjoyed every moment spent with you.”

He leaned over and kissed her nose. “If you are okay with dating someone who is cursed when it comes to dates, I would really like to keep seeing you Chloe.”

“I would like to keep seeing you, Yukhei.”

So they walked back to Chloe’s apartment hand in hand. Yukhei randomly stopping her to give her a kiss on the cheek, nose, forehead, lips. Each time she would giggle and pull them to start walking again as to not hold up foot traffic since he insisted on stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. They spent the rest of the day together, and for the first time, nothing went wrong.

~~~

After their discussion that Saturday morning in the park, dates had been going much smoother. It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that things started going right after their fateful conversation. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Things still went horribly wrong but they were now at the point where they didn’t care. 

Things were still the same. Chloe would still go into the coffee shop and find pickup lines on her cups. And if it wasn’t that, it was cute notes to her if he knew she was having a particularly hard day. 

One morning, she noticed “Will you be my girlfriend?” Scrawled on the side of the cup. To which she scribbled yes on a napkin with a heart. That was how they decided to be official. Renjun thought it was lame, but Chloe though it was perfectly them.

A few months later it was also the way that Yukhei first told her he loved her. He doesn’t tell her, but he still has the napkin where she first wrote “I love you too” tucked into his wallet. They did a lot of things this way. They also still had things go wrong, even months into the relationship, but for them it felt normal, almost right even. They took every misfortune in stride and were able to laugh in moments of frustration. Everything that should drive people apart, pushed Chloe and Yukhei together. It would continue to be like that for a long time, much to Renjun’s pretend dismay.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed!!!! I had a lot of fun writing this one and I thought it was really cute. Any comments or suggestions are always welcome since I did just start writing!  
> tumblr: lovingyong


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